Stunning, July 14, 2009
I just got the TCP54G10. STUNNING! A little history. I have been looking at HDTVs for about 3 years, and looking at DLPs originally, then went into this year thinking LCD is the way to go. I'm glad I waited, the inverse relationship between the technology and the prices is right this year.
Before you go buy an HDTV, do...read full review
I just got the TCP54G10. STUNNING! A little history. I have been looking at HDTVs for about 3 years, and looking at DLPs originally, then went into this year thinking LCD is the way to go. I'm glad I waited, the inverse relationship between the technology and the prices is right this year.
Before you go buy an HDTV, do yourself a favor, look at this TV, and do some research. Read other reviews. It turned me around to plasma and to this 2009 model plasma from Panasonic in particular. I knew plasmas simply have a superior picture, but I thought the price and issues with plasmas were a detriment.
I came into this dead set on an LCD, most likely from Samsung, that was before I started doing research on the latest Plasmas. Picture quality compared to an LCD, it's simply stunning, LCD has nothing on the plasmas. The Panasonic G10 is nothing short of amazing. The upconvert DVDs on this are amazing, and with our Pioneer Blu-Ray it is jaw dropping.
While I knew the picture quality on plasmas can't be beat in terms of picture quality and the ability to handle fast action in movies or sports with no problem. Versus LCD, Plasmas can handle a nearly infinite color palate so the pictures come out very natural, and you can see all the nuances of colors (like the Planet Earth series). An LCD looks, well, manufactured in terms of the picture, and can only handle so many colors.
I thought the issues of plasmas still outweighed the plusses. But they don't with the new plasmas and especially this G10 series from Panasonic. A) No Buzzing, (we live in Colorado where you would get this at higher altitudes), B) wattage, very comperable to LCDs, negligable difference between LCDs, C) price, better than LCDs. D) The glass on this sest is covered in a very resilient scratch resistant plastic screen. E) Burn in or retention of picture. No problem there with this series. F) Heat, not noticeably hotter than an LCD (this is BIG) G) It is very quiet, I can stand right next to it after an hour of watching a movie and hear no sound from the fans or anything. H) Brightness: User adjustable picture, it seems very bright, and it's antiglare coating on the screen is very good.
Oh the dirty little secret from some of my research. The other manufacturers alledgedly are getting out of plasma, why? Because Panasonic apparently owns the manufacturing plants, and they would have to pay Panasonic, or they have invested in LCD technologies elsewhere and it is thus they have greater margins for LCDs vs plasmas. Thus they can't compete on price. I've seen many reviews now where folks are going plasma vs lcd after their research.
The G10 series handles fast action with no blurriness and no flicker (LCDs have just started to get around this with 120 hz). You'll read about the 600 HZ subfield drive on this latest model and it works fantastic.
(New edit: We just hooked up an over the air digital antenna to watch our local football games, the local channel is in HD. The TV handled this just fine and even displayed it in HD with it's built in digital tuner. We saw no blurrieness in the action at all! THe picture was sharp, and crystal clear in HD.)
In terms of movies and blu-ray: This handles 24p very nicely. For 24p processing, you can choose between a 48hz mode (where you will definately notice flickering), but it defaults to 60hz, with no flickering and few "judders" that we can see, in processing 24p at 60hz.
Some reviews say "well it still doesn't handle "true cinema" 24p because the 60hz is not at the same multiple of the 24fps in which the media was filmed, and thus you won't see the film at quite the original cinematic cadence as in the theater. While this is technically true, we watch 1080p/24p from the source with 3:2 pull down off, beautifully. (Though avforums, as one of the comments to this review pointed out, has more detail on this, and probably more than you would want). Would I notice "true cinema" 24p at 96hz and like it better, not for the price difference between this and the V series (~$600-$700). Plus, for us, the very durable plastic screen on the G10 was more attractive to us versus the glass on the V10.
While I don't think most users will want to get too involved in the weeds with this, for a great simple explanation of this 1080/24p see a great explanation at Cnet: [...]
For an excellent review of the Panasonic V10 the step up from the G10, and this discussion of 24p processing, see Krueger's review here at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1P7WSX9L0J94W/ref=cm_cr_pr_cmt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B002C8LX6S&nodeID=#wasThisHelpful
He has the V10, and while it is also an excellent Plasma, according to him, the differences between seeing 24p at 96hz (a multiple of 24 frames per second, allowing the original cadence of the film to be maintained) vs the 60hz processing with the G10 is not a huge difference in viewing, you are getting a stunning picture either way. (BTW, those looking at LCDs, just because an LCD can refresh at 120 hz, a multiple of 24, I have seen in AV forums that this doesn't mean the set can handle 24p at that rate. You must look at the more technical details for the 24p processing).
Suffice to say, the G10 handles blu-ray action stunningly, and 24p just fine at the 60hz. We have the Pioneer BDP-51FD BonusView Blu-ray Player plugged straight into this with the HDMI cable (which for a blu ray player is a fantastic player). No Issues. We are running straight 1080/24p from it. No flickers, no blurriness, no jaggies or artifacts that we have seen. I'm hard pressed to see any "juddering" in large pan shots either (i.e. Batman Dark Night). Stunning clarity. This plasma is nice and bright (plus you can adjust the picture in alot of areas, but perhaps not as much as some videophiles may like), and the deep blacks are stunning with little shadowing (i.e. loss of detail) that we can see. It does have a THX certified display setting, which may be too dark for many users, but this can be adjusted. You also have a custom setting where you can set the basic picture settings to your taste, which should be plenty for the average user, though again, it doesn't have some of the more detailed settings available that some videophiles may like.
Bottom line, from someone who was dead set on an LCD: this turned me around to an even greater picture with plasma. For us the G10 is a stunning TV, you can't go wrong. It gets very positive reviews from all that I have read. We LOVE it. Panasonic also has great reliability history. We looked at Samsung but they looked like they had some issues with their sets that Panasonic doesn't have in the G10 series. We love the G10, and are extremely happy with our decision to wait! Both the G10 and the step up V10 are both stunning TVs, and easily in the top TVs for 2009, you won't go wrong with either of them.
On shipping from Amazon, fantastic experience. The shipper called ahead, worked out a time, TV arrived 1 day earlier than estimated, they brought the tv down to our home theatre room in our finished basement, setup the TV, put it up, plugged it in, checked it out at a high level, offered to take the packing material away. A+ service. minimize
Wow, May 27, 2009
I finally convinced my fiancee that we needed to upgrade her old 27 inch CRT in our living room to a new HDTV and after researching for a few months, I came to the conclusion that this was the TV I wanted to replace it with. I have absolutely no regrets on this purchase. The picture is stunning out of the box when hooked up to our DirecTV HD...read full review
I finally convinced my fiancee that we needed to upgrade her old 27 inch CRT in our living room to a new HDTV and after researching for a few months, I came to the conclusion that this was the TV I wanted to replace it with. I have absolutely no regrets on this purchase. The picture is stunning out of the box when hooked up to our DirecTV HD receiver. I haven't even had to change any of the default settings to adjust the picture settings. I have yet to run a blu-ray movie through it, but my PS3 is hooked up and playing some LittleBigPlanet on it looks twice as nice as playing on my old Sony 52 inch 1080i rear projection set. Sound through the built in speakers is fine, but with a TV like this, you'll be doing yourself a disservice to not get a set of 5.1 or 7.1 speakers and receiver to fully enjoy your HD. The Viera Cast is a nice little bonus, although watching YouTube videos on such a big screen is really muddy looking. I hope they add in NetFlix streaming to go along with their Amazon rental service built in already. Standard definition tv watching isn't bad at all once you get use to the filtering/upconverting that the set does. I do wish their was at least one more HDMI and one more component input on the back to hold all my gaming systems and various other accessories I would like to hook up to this TV, but that's the only knock I have against this fantastic TV. I can't wait for football season to start! minimize
Just right., July 3, 2009
I bought this TV from the local Video Only for $1850 in late May, but didn't pick it up until the Friday before Father's Day (since I got it for my father), or install it until a week later.
I have it hooked up to:
3 Sony 400 Disc DVD Changers
Sony Receiver
Psyclone PlayStation 2 Hi-Grade Source Selector
read full review
I bought this TV from the local Video Only for $1850 in late May, but didn't pick it up until the Friday before Father's Day (since I got it for my father), or install it until a week later.
I have it hooked up to:
3 Sony 400 Disc DVD Changers
Sony Receiver
Psyclone PlayStation 2 Hi-Grade Source Selector
Samsung DVD Recorder
PlayStation 3 80GB
Linksys PLK300 PowerLine AV Ethernet Adapter Kit
Linksys WRT610N Simultaneous Dual-N Band Wireless Router
Cyberpower 1030HT 10-Outlet Surge Suppressor - 6000 Joules 15A RJ11/Coax(3)/RJ45 EMI/RFI
Sound can be a bit tinny, but if you want to watch a movie or concert on TV you can just use the optical audio out to your surround system.
Standard definition TV looks ok. All the new channels we get thanks to the internal HDTV tuner are great.
Standard definition movies look excellent, but Blu-ray movies from the PS3 are breathtaking. We tested it with The Fifth Element (Remastered) [Blu-ray] and... WOW. The detail is astounding. For a perfectionist like me bass and blacks add the depth necessary for a true entertainment system. The black/color/detail this TV is capable of will meet all your needs, wants and then some.
We have it set up in a room with a large window wall casting bright sunlight directly on the screen almost all day and there are no problems with glare/reflections obstructing or negatively impacting the view.
One thing I would say, if you have to watch standard definition, you should be no less than 10 or so (give or take a couple) feet from the monitor. The lower the resolution, the harder it is to watch on a 54" screen. However, with quality Blu-ray and high definition video games you can be nose-to-glass and still enjoy the view.
I definitely recommend this product.
UPDATE:
09/19/09
I've been using this TV for months now and thought I should add something to my initial review...
First off, the best full system 'show-off' piece I've come across so far is the lobby/helicopter scene from The Ultimate Matrix Collection [Blu-ray]. Also, Watchmen (Director's Cut) [Blu-ray] is absolutely gorgeous.
The Viera Cast weather has turned out to be quite useful, and my father has apparently become addicted to Youtube. I would like to see some sort of sports ticker replace Bloomberg (or just be added in general) and Netflix replace Amazon VOD. As far as Amazon VOD is concerned, the streaming quality seems to be related to connection speed, rendering it useless/unwatchable to me with my slow country connection, besides being considerably more expensive.
I would like to point out that while glare is not a major issue, I have noticed that sitting in certain positions relative to the screen and windows in bright daylight or with other sources of light, can result in mild reflections during 'black' scenes. It's not distracting, but if you look for it, you can see it.
Recently, I have started building a computer that I intend to use with this monitor. In researching appropriate video cards and reading CNET's review, I have come to the conclusion that an HDMI connection over (what you would think would be the more convenient but apparently lower maximum resolution) PC input is the way to go.
Computer Build (so far)...
Monitor: Panasonic VIERA G10 Series TC-P54G10 54-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV, Black
Case: SilverStone RV01B-W ATX Full Tower Reinforced Plastic Outer Case (Black)
Motherboard: EVGA 141-BL-E760-A1 X58 Classified SLI Mainboard
Processor: Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz 8M L3 Cache 4.8GT/sec QPI Hyper-Threading Turbo Boost LGA1366 Processor
Memory: Corsair HX3X12G1600C9 XMS3 12 GB PC3-12800 1600Mhz 240-pin Triple Channel Core i7 DDR3 Memory Kit
Video Card: Gigabyte HD 4890 GDDR5-1GB
HDD: WD VelociRaptor 150GB SATA HD 10K/16MB/SATA-3
Disc Drive: LG Electronics CH08LS10 LightScribe SATA Blu-ray Combo Drive, Retail (Black)
Power Supply: SilverStone ST1200 1200W ATX12V/EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
Input: Logitech diNovo Mini
OS: Windows _ Ultimate minimize
TV is amazing, how I got it not soo amazing.., August 1, 2009
I did tons of research before buying and first bought a 50 G10 from BestBuy but realized I could get the 54 from amazon for maybe an extra 100$. I love the 54 size, a 58 would be pushing, definitely too big for the viewing distance and for my room. I hope more brands make this size. Picture quality is great!!! Nice blacks and great colors I...read full review
I did tons of research before buying and first bought a 50 G10 from BestBuy but realized I could get the 54 from amazon for maybe an extra 100$. I love the 54 size, a 58 would be pushing, definitely too big for the viewing distance and for my room. I hope more brands make this size. Picture quality is great!!! Nice blacks and great colors I really don't see the color inaccuracy that cnet referenced, though I've noticed a push on green here and there. I don't really know much about the whole 24/1080p thing, supposedly 48 flickers but I don't think this is a feature worth paying several hundred more for to get the V10. Only thing i kind of regret is I did not realize how cheap the Kuros are becoming and perhaps would've stuck with the 50 to have one (1700$ online). Otherwise this set is spectacular, I've watched several blu-rays on it and with some adjustments of the "custom" setting - breathtaking!
I ordered the tv off Amazon but apparently it came from Butterflyphoto, with a strange perfectly semi-circular "scratch" that does not seem to be surface level, its very difficult to see when the tv is on but I can see it in daylight while viewing if the picture is black (for instance the bands on blu-ray movies) or when the tv is off it is visible. At this point I've gotten no response from butterfly and may pursue Amazon. minimize
54 inches of Digital Pleasure, October 3, 2009
I ordered this Panasonic TC54 G10 on Saturday morning and it arrived on the following Thursday (4 days ahead of schedule). The delivery service from Amazon (Pilot) was excellent. I arrived home to find the TV sitting on my stand, hooked-up to my components (tip the delivery guys) and ready to provide a substantial upgrade over my 720P 42 inch set...read full review
I ordered this Panasonic TC54 G10 on Saturday morning and it arrived on the following Thursday (4 days ahead of schedule). The delivery service from Amazon (Pilot) was excellent. I arrived home to find the TV sitting on my stand, hooked-up to my components (tip the delivery guys) and ready to provide a substantial upgrade over my 720P 42 inch set from Samsung. I bought the Samsung 2 years ago and was quite happy with it but was drawn to the 54 inch panel and the 1080P resolution. Truth be told, I felt a little guilty about making this particular purchase.
Until I turned on the new set. The size of the razor-sharp image was a jaw-dropping delight. This set has an immersive quality that must be seen to be appreciated. The screen seems to be about twice the size of the 42 inch panel. The jump to 1080P was a second huge improvement as I watch Blu-Ray and sports.
Other users have commented on the sound being less than great. It might be but I don't know because I have the Panasonic connected to a high quality 5:1 surround sound set-up in my man cave. A TV of this dimension absolutely demands this.
The color adjustment from the remote takes a little tweaking but there are multiple pre-sets.
I have not connected the set to the Internet as I don't feel that this is a pressing need. Maybe later.....
The deal on set from Amazon included an effectively free Panasonic Blu-Ray player. At $1544 for both with free delivery I could not justify not taking the bait. This set also was universally well-reviewed including a best buy selection from Consumer Reports.
As with anything in this digital age, there will always be something better and cheaper six months down the road but then the six months pass and the statement is still true....
I cannot imagine that the Panasonic 54G10 will fade quickly in my estimation. A great plasma that delivers a very satisfying shot of digital satisfaction. For now, this set offers a sweet-spot in the cost/benefit continuum. My buyer's guilt is gone.... minimize
